PROLOGUE

"What do you mean she can never have children?" King Agdar demanded, jumping from his seat to tower over the Royal Doctor.

"I mean just that, Your Majesty. Her body simply can't take it. The baby your wife is pregnant with now... it could very well kill her. I would recommend that we remove the fetus–" the doctor was cut off by a sudden cry.

"No! No, I cannot do that this far along. I will have this baby!" Queen Idunn shouted, cradling her seven-month swollen belly with one hand as the other rose to wipe at her quickly dampening eyes.

The King laid a hand on his wife's shoulder and looked sadly into her warm brown eyes. He could not bare to lose his wife. But the child growing inside of her, whose kicks he had felt many times, who he had talked to as Idunn ran hands through his hair while they lied together in their bed chambers... he couldn't let that go either.

"Are you certain that this is what you want, my dear?" he asked gently.

"Yes. I'm sure," Idunn whispered as she lifted a hand to rest atop her husband's.

"It is settled then. My wife and I accept the risks and wish to continue with the pregnancy," Agdar said firmly, turning to face the doctor.

"Very well," the man grimaced. "But please heed my warning, Your Majesties; if this child does not take the Queen's life, the next most certainly will. I implore you to never try again following the success– or failure– of this child."

Idunn and Agdar looked to each other before nodding solemnly.

"We understand. Thank you for your services, Henrik. Farewell," Agdar said with the slightest dip of his head.

"Of course, my King," the doctor replied with a sad smile before bowing once to each of the royals before him. "And please, summon me should any problems arise, Your Highnesses."

"We will," Idunn nodded as her husband looped an arm around her shoulder to guide her out the door.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Agdar paced nervously outside the birthing chambers, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

"It's taking too long, much too long," he muttered to himself. He lifted a hand to massage his temples, halting his canter to stare longingly at the door that separated him from his beloved wife and soon-to-be newborn child.

"Don't worry, my King. Gerda is an excellent midwife; the Queen is in capable hands," his advisor, Kai, assured him.

"The Doctor warned us that the child could end Idunn's life... Are you sure that Gerda requires no extra hands?"

"I'm positive, Your Majesty. The Troll King is more than enough help."

A sudden agonized wail penetrated the great wooden door and reverberated throughout the hall. Agdar's hair stood on end and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Idunn!" he cried as he charged towards the door.

"Your Majesty, please!" Kai shouted as he grabbed the King by his shoulders and gently pushed him away. "You know the rules. I assure you that this is normal."

"Kai... oh, Kai, what am I going to do?" the King muttered with a laugh that lacked any sense of humor. He ran a hand through his hair before crossing his arms firmly over his abdomen, backing away from the door before swiveling on his heels to hide the distraught expression that marred his face.

"My King, if I may," Kai began tentatively and continued after receiving an affirming nod from Agdar. "You are very young, Majesty. However, you must understand that what ever happens tonight simply happens."

"I don't understand."

"Should the Queen meet an untimely end, your child will need you. Should something go wrong with the child, your wife will most certainly need you. If they both were to pass, you must remember that all of Arendelle will need you. What ever happens tonight simply happens. There will be others who need you and your guidance. I say this because you sometimes react rather rashly. If I may be so bold, Your Majesty," Kai explained, resting his palm on the King's shoulder. The younger man's worry wafted off him in thick, choking waves and the advisor could swear he felt a tremor wrack through the King's body.

"Would you– would you assist me, Kai? What ever the outcome may be," Agdar asked, choking on silent sobs.

Kai felt a pang of pity for the King and forced the man to turn and face him. Kai was the same age as Agdar; they had known each other since Kai had began working in the castle at the age of sixteen before rising to the rank of advisor. Ten years they'd known each other and in ten years they had become very good friends.

"I will. Till I die, I swear I will be by your side, Agdar," Kai said with a stiff nod and a gravely serious expression. This was not merely an advisor lending an ear to a King– this was a friend staying by the side of another friend.

Agdar opened his mouth to say something when the doors suddenly flew open. Gerda was standing in the doorway, panting, a devastated expression plastered on her face

"King Agdar, come quick!" she shouted, motioning the man inside. The King sprinted after the woman, down the agonizingly long hallway that led to the main room and into the chamber where he saw his wife, shaky and pale, lying still in a large bed.

"Idunn," he gasped, taking his wife's small hand in his own and collapsing to his knees beside the bed. The Troll King was cradling the newborn child.

"It is a girl, my King. But this one is very special," the rocky being said, looking excitedly into Agdar's eyes.

"H-How do you mean?" the King asked, his grip on his Queen's hand tightening.

"She has been born with the Ice Mark. She is being of magic– a blessing to this land," the Troll King answered, smiling softly.

"What is the Ice Mark?" Gerda asked, gripping Kai's arm as she gazed curiously at the child she helped bring into the world.

"The child will be able to conjure ice and snow and bend them to her very will. She will be very, very powerful," the troll replied as he tucked the blanket around the frame of the baby in his arms.

Agdar smiled fondly at the bundle, proud of what he had aided in creating. He reached to take the child from the Troll King's arms when Idunn let out an horrible, pain-filled scream.

"What is it? What's wrong with her? What's wrong?" Agdar asked desperately, rising to hold his wife's head between his palms. He looked to the Troll King, who had handed the newborn to Gerda. The troll made his way to the Queen's side, where he rested a rocky palm against her forehead and closed his eyes in concentration. After a moment, he shook his head sadly.

"She is dying, King Agdar. The birthing was too much."

The room fell silent. Large tears rolled silently down Agdar's face as he gazed disbelievingly at Idunn. She was breathing raggedly and her slowing heartbeat seemed to echo throughout the room.

"Agdar... Agdar, please— name her Elsa. Name her Elsa," the Queen whispered as her eyes began to drift shut. The King no longer tried to endure in silence and let out a loud, strangled sound of pure anguish.

"No, no, no," he murmured, pulling his quickly fading wife into his chest and rocking her gently. They remained that way for a few minutes before Idunn's final breath rattled out of her lungs and she went limp in her husband's arms. Agdar slowly released his beloved wife and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead before rising and wiping his face. Kai's words echoed in his mind and he put on a brave, albeit forcedly stony, expression and made his way over to his new daughter. He took the child from Gerda's arms and looked long and hard at the beautiful child, at her pale blonde hair, at the beautiful blue eyes that stared back up at him curiously. A few of the child's features rang of her mother's; Adgar could see Idunn in the girl's nose and in her chin. He smiled dismally and blinked back tears before turning to face the other three inhabitants in the room, all of whom had gathered at the foot of the Queen's deathbed.

"This child is... my flesh and blood. I will not take another wife and therefore will have no other children. If she will be as powerful as you say," Agdar began, nodding to the troll, "then I would wish that she never have to answer to a man the way a normal woman would. I will raise her as a man, to rule the kingdom as a king. This way, I will not leave Arendelle in the hands of a foreign ruler after I pass and my daughter will not be suppressed in any way or stripped of her right as the total ruler of this kingdom.

"I do not wish anyone to know of her true gender, no one but us four who are in this room now. Do you understand?"

"We understand, Your Majesty," Kai nodded alongside the Troll King and Gerda.

"To us, she will be little Princess Elsa. But the rest of the world will know her as proud Prince Ezra of Arendelle," Agdar said firmly, his gaze drifting to the crystal blue eyes of his daughter— no, the crystal blue eyes of his son.

Agdar's lips curled into a somber smile despite the situation; it was truly a bittersweet day. While his beloved had passed, he had been blessed with a child that he knew in his heart would one day be a wise and powerful ruler.

A/N: This is my very first fic. Are you guys interested in this at all? I'm not so confident in the idea, but if you guys are willing to give it a chance than I'll be more than willing to continue. Please drop a review and thank you for reading!